A student of
Serge Collot at the
Paris Conservatory, at the age of 16 he received first prize in viola. Following this he studied for a time in the United States with
William Primrose and
Walter Trampler, both at the
Juilliard School and
Boston University, from which latter he received his Bachelor of Music degree in 1982. In 1980 Xuereb took a position performing with the
Ensemble intercontemporain of
Pierre Boulez, leaving the group in 1982. Since 1989 he has taught his instrument at the Paris Conservatory and at the
École normale de musique de Paris. He teaches frequent master classes, and appears with the
Patrick Gallois Quintet and the Ensemble Alternance; he also teaches at the
Royal Conservatory of Liège. With the
luthier Friedrich Alber Xuereb has designed a five-string viola called the ''grand'viola
; he has used it to perform works for forgotten instruments such as the Sonate per grand'viola e orchestra
of Niccolò Paganini, the Arpeggione Sonata of Franz Schubert, and the Sixth suite for
viola pomposa'' of
Johann Sebastian Bach. His discography runs to around twenty recordings, and he is noted for his championship of
contemporary classical music. He is the first musician to record the 24 Preludes for viola d’amore and harp by
Henri Casadesus. == Notes and references ==